Very well, I was going to wait and see but in the end it is a comprehensive 4-0 vote and I doubt it will change. Unlucky East Londoner
Fisichella takes his first career win and Williams first victory of the season after yet another crazy race. 7 Drivers lead at some stage, with Takuma Sato looking like he could pull of an unlikely win at one point! The unlucky drivers to lose a lap were Webber, Sato and Button. Without losing the lap Webber would have finished 2nd.
As for the rest of the podium, Trulli drove a quiet race to 2nd but the battle for 3rd in the remaining laps was intense, with Schumacher, Zonta, Hakkinen, Massa, Kovalainen and Raikkonen continually trading places, with Zonta eventually taking the final podium spot, a remarkable achievement considering on lap 10 he was a lap down and in 25th after a very poor start. It initially looked like Massa would be 3rd jumping from 6th to 3rd in one lap, but his move proved too early and he dropped back in the skirmish.
Barrichello and Alonso clashed whilst fighting for the lead, and Alesi spun off on his own in what should of been an easy win, he was ahead of Ralf Schumacher before the German's engine died anyway.
Full race Review:
1.Giancarlo Fisichella, Williams
Fisi's first ever win and he practically inherited it, Fisichella drove consistent laps and gladly took the result as all the cars ahead of him met problems. The only question is to why it took Williams so long.
2.Jarno Trulli, McLaren
Drove consistently well to stay ahead of Schumacher at the first wave of pit stops, Trulli was much faster after the final pit stop and drove off in to the distance far away from the squabble for 3rd.
3.Ricardo Zonta, Sauber.
What a barnstormer of a race for Zonta, Saubers worst qualifying session of the year and an even worse start saw Zonta behind both Ansimov cars and Adrian Sutil's Arrows after the opening 10 laps. But he settled in to a good grove and started to pound round the track catching the McLaren led train ahead of him bit by bit and in the final 5 laps went from 7th to 3rd. Driver of the day.
4.Michael Schumacher, McLaren.
Michael Schumacher's first race off the podium this season (not counting the missed Imola race) the fact Ricardo Zonta's Sauber was the car to deny him a podium is very surprising indeed. Schumacher has a commanding lead in the championship but the McLaren is clearly not the fastest car out there, can Michael bank on his competitors to continue to shoot themselves in the foot?
5.Mika Hakkinen, Minardi.
2 points scoring results in 2 races for the Finn. Like Zonta, Hakkinen spent the early part of the race behind the Ansimov cars, but late race pace saw him catch up, was in the thick of the fight for 3rd and after overtaking Massa for 3rd must be disappointed to have Schumacher and Zonta pass him at the death.
6.Felipe Massa, Arrows
A good result has been overdue for Massa, who's car has let him down from points finishes before, Massa looked to have made an extraordinary upset when he passed Kovalainen and Michael Schumacher for 3rd with just 4 laps remaining, but the battle wasn't over there and he slipped back to a valiant 6th.
7.Heikki Kovalainen, Asiatech
Heikki did very well to shadow the BAR/McLaren scrap through out the race, he never seemed to get close enough to mount a serious attack and he must of been surprised to see Massa, Hakkinen and Zonta charge him down from seemingly nowhere!
8.Kimi Raikkonen, Sauber.
Kimi's inability to lap Antonio Pizzonia ultimatly cost him a serious shot at the podium. By the time he eventually past the slow Ansimov he had very few laps to catch the Melee, in the end he was right on the tail of Kovalainen and given a few more laps would of been a contender.
9.Mark Webber, BAR
Furious, is one word to describe Webber, in a moment of over enthusiasm whilst fighting Button's Williams Webber missed a timing beam and the stewards adjudged that he repeat the lap, this cost the Australian a 2nd place finish. 9th place is probably the most insulting position to give him!
10.Pedro de la Rosa, Ansimov.
Pedro's pace actually was not too bad, once clear of his struggling team mate de la Rosa made quite a break and was at one stage half a lap ahead of Hakkinen and Zonta. However he did not have the pace to maintain that form as he practically limped to the finish. Asiatech have announced their intention to sign him.
11.Antonio Pizzona, Ansimov.
Another terribly slow performance has some scratching their heads, Pizzonia was a match (almost) for de la Rosa earlier this season but seems to have dropped off a cliff over the last few races.
12.Jean Alesi, Renault Spun Off.
Oh dear Jean, this isn't even the first time this has happened. Alesi was half a lap ahead of Fisichella and cruising to his 2nd win this season when under no pressure what so ever spun in to a wall, what was he thinking!
13.Ralf Schumacher, Ferrari Engine.
Seriously puzzled as to how Ralf keeps suffering these problems, Ferrari now have the best sidepods on the grid and decent cooling systems to boot. Ralf Schumacher was having a race long battle with Alesi. After the final wave of pitstops Ralf was behind and seeemed to be catching when his engine died. Fastest lap is little compensation, though the prize money did push Ferrari in to the black this round.
14.Jenson Button, Williams Spun Off
This has not been Buttons season at all, he had great pace this race and was fighting for the lead, he missed a timing beam and was a lap down and whilst on a charge to catch up to the points spun off.
Fisichella had lapped most of the field and Button was ahead of Fisichella so he would have been right up the dirt box of the McLarens if not flying past them.
15. Nick Heidfeld was in the thick of battle with the McLarens when he spun off, would of been interesting to see if he would of been able to overcome Trulli again but it was not to be. BAR can at least take strength from the fact they seem to be as quick if not quicker then McLaren now.
16.HWNSNBM, Jordan Spun Off.
Not the best of races for Jordan, though with how crazy the end played out HWNSNBM could of been on the podium had he kept it on the road.
17.Adrian Sutil, Arrows Spun Off.
Sutil was fighting de la Rosa's Ansimov car fiercely, for pride more then anything else. After passing the Spaniard in a great move, Sutil promptly spun off 2 laps later.
18.Takuma Sato, Jaguar Unknown.
Sato was flying, in the early stages he was schything his way up the field, he overtook the BAR's the McLarens and Fisichella. After a wave of pitstops he even found himself in front of Alesi for the lead, though sadly like Button and Webber he somehow lost a lap and got swallowed up by a train of cars on the pit straight where, twilight zone style, he just vanished. Fortunatly the car was recovered none the worse for wear.
19.Tiago Monteiro, Jordan Tyre Burst
Had finally overhauled Pizzonia when his tyre blew, what on Earth happened to his form in Spain?
20.Luca Badoer, Jaguar Steering
Badoer didn't have Sato's pace but was looking steady when his car failed him. Again.
Alonso and Barrichello clashing whilst fighting for the lead on only lap 14 was foolish and for that they get joint ROTR. Both of them are supremley fast but have just not had the consistency to challenge for the title they both should be fighting for.
Drivers Championship
1.Michael Schumacher 53
2.Jarno Trulli 34
3.Giancarlo Fisichella 27
4.Rubens Barrichello 20
5.Ralf Schumacher 19
6.Nick Heidfeld 18
7.Jean Alesi 17
8.Fernando Alonso 16 (1 win)
9.Kimi Raikkonen 16
10.HWNSNBM 15
11.Mark Webber 12
12.Luca Badoer 11
13.Takuma Sato 9
14.Ricardo Zonta 8
15.Mika Hakkinen 7
16.Heinz Harold Frenzten 6
17.Tiago Monteiro 5
18=Felipe Massa 3 (1 6th)
18=Dario Franchitti 3 (1 6th)
18=Pedro de la Rosa 3 (1 6th)
21=Enrico Tocacello 2 (1 7th)
21=Heikki Kovalainan 2 (1 7th)
21=Alex Wurz 2 (1 7th)
21=Tony Kanaan 2 (1 7th)
25=Adrian Sutil 1
25=Olivier Panis 1.
Teams
1.McLaren 89
2.Ferrari 39 (3 wins)
3.Renault 39 (2 wins)
4.BAR 30
5.Williams 27
6.Sauber 26
7.Jordan 20 (1 2nd)
8.Jaguar 20
9.Minardi 10
10.Arrows 4 (1 6th)
11.Asiatech 4
12.Ansimov 3
13.Toyota 1
| A Vettel fan. 
| Jacques Villeneuve's WDC = 
(rem'd when Caterham scores)
